Thursday, October 29, 2015

UPDATED: Two Holocaust survivors, one in Ireland, one in Manhattan, were "reunited" in NYC on October 28 after more than 70 years

Two Holocaust survivors, one in Ireland, one in Manhattan, were "reunited" in NYC on October 28 after more than 70 years

 
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SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD LINK:

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Two men discover they were on the same train to Bergen-Belsen

 
 
UPDATED: THE ''REUNION'' TOOK PLACE ON OCTOBER 28 in NYC
 
 
''Reunion'
 
by Dan Bloom,
overeas correspondent,
SAN DIEGO JEWISH WORLD
http://www.sdjewishworld.com/2015/10/30/never-again-holocaust-news-for-october-30-2015/
 
 
Two Holocaust survivors, one who made his home in Ireland after the war and the other who made his home in New York, met for the first time face to face in a heartfelt ''reunion'' in Manhattan on October 28, even though they had spoken to each other by phone and email last March after a San Diego Jewish World reporter arranged their initial Internet communications. The stories are important ones.


When the
​''​
Irish
​ ​
Central
​''​
online newspaper picked up
​a
San Diego Jewish World story
​about ​
Peter Kubicek in and Tomi Reichental,
​the news
spread worldwide
​via social media ​
about these two amazing men and their happy, contented lives in 2015, despite having seen the Nazi evil close and personal in 1944 when they were teenagers
​ in the 1940s.​

                                               
The
​"Irish Central" ​
news article was headlined ''Two Holocaust survivors, one in Ireland, find they were on the same train to Bergen-Belsen."
 

"Both men now believe they may have been in the same train car on their horrific journey to the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen," Irish Central reported.
"Through an amazing series of events [Kubicek has been] reunited with Tomi Reichental, an Irish citizen who lives in Dublin and is also a Holocaust survivor from the same village in Slovakia,"
​the online site
wrote, adding this poignant note:
''They both realized they were very likely on the same cattle car that took them to that notorious concentration camp.''


​Hoping to meet one day in New York, the dream came true on a beautiful autumn day in upper Manhattan when Kubicek, 85, and Reichental, 81, were guests of honor at a college symposium on the Holocaust at the College of Mount Saint Vincent.


​Reichental flew in to New York from Dublin with his wife ​Joyce to have dinner with Kubicek and his wife Edith, at a celebratory dinner arranged by Irish film director Gerry Gregg and Joe Skelly, a history professor at the college.

"The reunion seventy-one years after their forlorn train journey to Bergen-Belsen was a profound and unforgettable experience for everyone in the audience -- students, faculty members, and friends
of Tomi and Peter," Skelly told San Diego Jewish World by email after the event.

"These two men are moral witnesses to the reality of evil and inspiring examples of the resiliency of the human spirit," he said. "They shared their experiences at the afternoon symposium in a way that left an indelible imprint on the consciences of all of those in attendance. Their words will echo in the memories of the college students in the audience, who will now bear witness for future generations to the horror of the Holocaust and the determination of brave souls like Tomi and Peter to defeat evil in our time."




For Kubicek, the reunion with Reichental cemented their online friendship that began in March.




"The college symposium took place in a conference room,  with an audience which was composed of faculty and students," Kubicek told this reporter. "At one point I was handed the microphone and asked to speak. While I had nothing whatever prepared, I am never at a loss for words, particularly when it comes to the Holocaust -- a topic about which I know a lot and about which I have strong opinions."

"After the event, Professor Skelly took our small group out to dinner at -- get this! -- a glatt kosher local restaurant," he added.



​In March, s​
truck by the parallels between these strangers’ lives and a desire to bring them together,
​San ​
Diego Jewish World ran a preliminary story about the two men, based on an earlier New York Times story
​about
Reichental
​from its Dublin bureau ​
and a series of emails
​to this newspaper ​
from Kubicek.
Reichental, after reading the story here at
​the ​
San Diego Jewish World website, said in email that he was interested in contacting Kubicek.


“I am writing to you as I would like to get the email address of Peter Kubicek. I go sometimes to New York, too, so it might be a possibility to meet Peter some day in person.”
A family portrait - Tomi Reichental on the bottom left. Photo from Tomi Reichental.
 




​After the "Irish Central" reporter Frances Mulaney ​picked up our story,
Kubicek
​was interviewed and quoted as saying:
“I was very surprised
​ to hear from Tomi​
. We compared notes and I suspected that we we were on the same cattle car transport from the Slovak concentration camp of Serad to Bergen-Belsen in November 1944 which was the first transport that went there instead of Poland.
Tomi ​
He confirmed that that was the one.”
In
​an
email to Kubicek, Reichental
​wrote
, “It was the
​second
of November
​, 1944,​
when we were deported from Sered and we arrived
​seven days later at
Bergen
​-​
Belsen.
​ ​
i
It​
was the first transport from Slovakia with children, mothers and the elderly that didn’t go to Birkenau because the gas chambers were blown up by the Germans on the
​seventh
of November due to the advancing Russians towards the camp.''
“We were in the cattle cart traveling at the time and must have been diverted to Bergen-Belsen. We lived in block 207.”
A picture Tomi's father carried with him when he was with the Partisans (the resistance) that was all he had to remember them by. Tomi is the little boy, his mother Judith and his brother Miki. Picture from 1941-42. He was 6-7 years old. Photo from Tomi Reichental
 

“It’s an amazing thing – the people who were in Bergen-Belsen – it’s an amazing feeling to meet somebody that has that connection. That’s what sort of connected us, there was nothing else, but when you meet someone who has also lived through horrific times. It makes us special and we have an affinity to each other because we were in the same place, which was a horrific experience,”
​Reichental
told Mulraney in New York.
Reichental gives talks and lectures on the Holocaust in schools throughout Ireland. Kubicek gives talks as well in New York, where he works as a docent at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art
. Age hasn't slowed these gentlemen down.

“It is the last chance. We are the last witnesses to this horrific crime that happened not long ago, and to speak against those people who are trying to deny the Holocaust,” Reichental
​says
. “I spoke to 72,000 students in Ireland and I think they tell their parents and friends and my story reaches hundreds and thousands.
“It is important for me. I owe it to the victims
​," he said. "​
I lost
​thirty-five
members of my family and it’s very important that we speak to young people
​--
that they hear the story and tell their children that they met a Holocaust survivor.''
It’s not easy – reliving my past – I started to lecture 11 years ago. I didn’t speak about it for 55 years before this and when I first started it was hard
​," he added​.



Kubicek
published his own memoir, “Memories of Evil: A World War II Childhood,” in 2012.

"
Tomi mentioned in an email to me that for many years he didn’t talk about it and that is true of many of the rest of us too. They talk now of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and that’s certainly what we were all suffering from," he told Irish Central
​ last March
.  "It took us all a long time to live with our memories, but I found that once I started writing it was like I was starting catharsis, like a boulder fell from my back and the process was almost therapeutic.”

UPDATE and POSTSCRIPT: Tomi Reichental wrote to this reporter today from Dublin to say:

"Dear Dan, We finally made it to New York. It was a memorable meeting and practically 71 years to the day that we were dumped into the cattle cart on the way to Bergen Belsen. We thank you for the publicity of the event, it all helps to remind and not to forget the Holocaust."

"By the way, the purpose of our trip to the USA was not only to meet Peter but also to publicize my film produced by Irish documentary producer Gerry Gregg titled “Close to Evil” which received the Irish Film and Television Academy Award for “Best Single Documentary 2015”. We showed clips of the film in Boston and New York and a full showing at a Long Island event with discussion and Q/A. The events were attended to full capacity with standing ovations."

"Thanks again, -- Tomi."
 
 


Peter Kubicek (left) and Tomi Reichental (right) find each other through the Internet.
Peter Kubicek, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor living in New York, knows all about the power of coincidence.


Through an amazing series of events he was reunited with Tomi Reichental, an Irish citizen who lives in Dublin and is also a Holocaust survivor from the same village in Slovakia. Reichental, 79, lectures on the Holocaust to Irish schoolchildren.

They both realized they were very likely on the same cattle car that toook them to a notorious concentration camp.

Kubicek's family was torn apart during WWII as his father failed to secure visas to New York for Peter, his mother and grandmother. His family was split further apart as they were deported to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in October 1944 and Peter was consequently moved between a further five camps before his liberation in May 1945.


It was one day in Prague, following his liberation, and suffering from tuberculosis, when his family were reunited by chance when he and his mother, who had also miraculously survived Bergen-Belsen, ran into each other on a busy street. Mother and son successfully communicated with his father and immigrated to America.

But even he is surprised by how quickly the Internet can connect two people.
It's thanks to the internet (and a blogger in Taiwan) that Peter is now in touch with Tomi Reichental, a Holocaust survivor in Dublin.

Both men now believe they may have been in the same train car on their horrific journey to the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen.

The man who brought them together is blogger Dan Bloom. Instrumental in connecting these two courageous men, Bloom says it is “a story to repair the world,” the kind he’s always looking for.

“I have known Peter [Kubicek] for about ten years as an email friend,” Bloom told IrishCentral. “We have emailed a few times a week for the past 5 years. He has written a memoir of this time in the camps and I have read it and been touched by it.”
Liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp April 1945: Women and children herded together in one of the camp huts. Photo by Imperial War Museum/Public Domain
Liberation of Belsen Concentration Camp April 1945: Women and children herded together in one of the camp huts. Photo by Imperial War Museum/Public Domain

It was during one of their routine email interactions that Kubicek sent Bloom a New York Times article from March 14 – an article featuring Dublin-resident Tomi Reichental. Reichental is a 79-year old retired jeweler who has received much acclaim in Ireland for his talks at schools about his life in the camps.
The New York Times article focused on Reichental’s involvement in the documentary “Close to Evil,” which follows Reichental’s journey as he attempts to contact Hilde Michnia, a 93-year old woman who worked as a SS Nazi guard at Bergen-Belsen.
After reading the article, Kubicek noticed many similarities between Reichental’s youth and his own. “I, too, was born in Slovakia, in a town called Trenčin. I, too, was persecuted as a Jew, when in March, 1939, Slovakia became a quasi-independent Fascist state, firmly allied with Nazi Germany,” he told Bloom.
“I, too, escaped the deportations of Jews in 1942, most of them to their death in Auschwitz,” Kubicek added. “I, too, was finally deported in November, 1944, to Bergen-Belsen — in the first transport that was routed to Germany, rather than to camps in Poland.”


There was one quote of Reichental’s, in particular, that caught Kubicek’s eye. “People tell me I’m the fittest Holocaust survivor alive today.”
In an email to Bloom, Kubicek said, “While Tomi will soon be 80, I have already reached the venerable age of 85. I would only take exception to Tomi’s statement to the NYT reporter in Ireland that he is the fittest Holocaust survivor alive today. Tomi, you have not met me — though I wish we could meet.
Struck by the parallels between these strangers’ lives and a desire to bring them together, on March 17, St. Patrick’s Day, Bloom took the story to the San Diego Jewish World, a website where he is a regular contributor. “I loved the two comments (about being the fittest Holocaust survivor)... I had the idea to write a story for the SDJW which would set the stage for a possible reunion of the two men,” says Bloom.
Wishing to contact Reichental in Dublin, Bloom contacted the New York Times to no avail and struggled to see how he would bring the two men together.
But news of Bloom’s interest in the comparison between Reichental and Kubicek had already spread to Dublin – an email from Reichental himself landed in the inbox of San Diego Jewish World.
To Bloom’s delight, Reichental was interested in contacting Kubicek. “I am writing to you as I would like to get the email address of Peter Kubicek...I go sometimes to New York, too, so it might be a possibility to meet Peter some day in person.”
A family portrait - Tomi Reichental on the bottom left. Photo from Tomi Reichental.
A family portrait - Tomi Reichental on the bottom left. Photo from Tomi Reichental.

Bloom connected the two men, and since their initial contact earlier this week, Reichental and Kubicek have continued discussing the similarities of their experience via email.
The more they shared, the more similarities they realized. Kubicek told IrishCentral, “I was very surprised. We compared notes and I suspected that we we were on the same cattle car transport from the Slovak concentration camp of Serad to Bergen-Belsen in November 1944 which was the first transport that went there instead of Poland. He [Reichental] confirmed that that was the one.”
In his email to Kubicek, Reichental states, “It was the 2nd of November when we were deported from Sered and we arrived on the 9th to Bergen Belsen... it was the first transport from Slovakia with children, mothers and the elderly that didn’t go to Birkenau because the gas chambers were blown up by the Germans on the 7th of November due to the advancing Russians towards the camp.
“We were in the cattle cart traveling at the time and must have been diverted to Bergen-Belsen. We lived in block 207.”
A picture Tomi's father carried with him when he was with the Partisans (the resistance) that was all he had to remember them by. Tomi is the little boy, his mother Judith and his brother Miki. Picture from 1941-42. He was 6-7 years old. Photo from Tomi Reichental
A picture Tomi's father carried with him when he was with the Partisans (the resistance) that was all he had to remember them by. Tomi is the little boy, his mother Judith and his brother Miki. Picture from 1941-42. He was 6-7 years old. Photo from Tomi Reichental

Reichental shares Kubicek’s surprise at how quickly the two men were able to connect. “This modern technology – everything is happening very very fast.”
“It’s an amazing thing – the people who were in Bergen-Belsen – it’s an amazing feeling to meet somebody that has that connection. That’s what sort of connected us, there was nothing else, but when you meet someone who has also lived through horrific times. It makes us special and we have an affinity to each other because we were in the same place, which was a horrific experience.”
Reichental now gives talks and lectures on the Holocaust in schools throughout Ireland. He likes to keep a record of all the schools where he has given a talk and, to date, the total stands at 72,000 students.
“It is the last chance. We are the last witnesses to this horrific crime that happened not long ago, and to speak against those people who are trying to deny the Holocaust,” Reichental says. “I spoke directly to 72,000 students here in Ireland and I think they tell their parents and friends and my story reaches hundreds and thousands.
“It is important for me. I owe it to the victims. I lost 35 members of my family and it’s very important that we speak to young people – that they hear the story and tell their children that they met a Holocaust survivor.
It’s not easy – reliving my past – I started to lecture 11 years ago. I didn’t speak about it for 55 years before this and when I first started it was hard.”
Reichental has been highly commended for his role and was last year awarded the International Person of the Year at the Irish People of the Year awards. He is now in such high demand that he is fully booked right up until the end of 2016.


Peter Kubicek has also spoken out about his memories culminating in the publication of his memoirs “Memories of Evil: A World War II Childhood” in 2012. Speaking of his writing, Kubicek feels that it is another experience shared with Reichental – “Tomi mentioned to me that for many years he didn’t talk about it and that is true of many of the rest of us too. They talk now of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and that’s certainly what we were all suffering from. It took us all a long time to live with our memories, but I found that once I started writing it was like I was starting catharsis, like a boulder fell from my back and the process was almost therapeutic.”
Tomi Reichental doesn’t know where this new contact with Peter Kubicek will take him. Bloom talks of the pair meeting and Reichental admits that it may be a possibility. He tells IrishCentral, “Some time – nothing in planning right now but I have a couple of ties in New York and my son lives in the States but in California.”
“I visit him every year so it could happen, that if I really wanted to plan it, that I could meet him in New York...we will let each other know.”
Kubicek is eager for the meeting to happen if possible. “He [Reichental] tells me that he comes occasionally to New York and I would love to host him here. I work in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and I would love to take him for lunch there. My family would to love to meet him. He’s supposed to let me know.”
Of his own contribution to the story, Bloom says, “So many Holocaust stories are sad and tragic, as they need to be, of course, but with Peter and Tomi I want to celebrate humor and warmth and two good men, who led good lives and conquered the evil that once ruled Europe.”

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